Gunstar Pollux Volume One
by PunyHooman
Summary: The Gunstar Pollux and her crew managed to avoid the attack on the colonies completely. That doesn't mean, however, that she will not be an important factor in many offensives against the Cylon aggressors. Humanity may be beaten but we're far from going quietly into the night. Volume one in an untold number of volumes to come. Reviews greatly appreciated!
1. Prologue

**_Survival Over All: Series One  
_**

**_Prologue;  
The Beginning of the End_**

**_One Day Before the Fall_**

* * *

Thirty four year old Commander Joseph Free grasped his light-skinned hands behind his back tightly as he carefully watched DRADIS. The sector his ship was currently in was one of two that his ship, the _Gunstar Pollux_, was assigned to patrol daily. It was a boring job but it held a certain importance to the Fleet. Since the two sectors were so close the the Red Line pirates, smugglers, freedom fighters and all others who sought to bring harm to the colonies used the areas in futile attempts to hide from the Colonial Fleet. Needless to say, it didn't work as well as they thought.

The _Pollux_ was a five year old Asterisk-Class Gunstar and was generally considered to be heavily armed for its classification. At least for its size and role, the gunstar was considered heavily armed. The _Pollux_ alone housed 18 Heavy Cobra-Type Kinetic Energy Batteries. Each battery was scattered along the outer hull, mounted alongside bot the top side and bottom side of the hull, each battery consisting of two cannons. The gunstar was also equipped with fifteen missile pods and eighty point defense cannons, evenly mounted all along the hull. The ship had a maximum compliment of twenty vipers, a squadron's worth, five raptors and two heavy shuttles used solely for transport.

_Pollux_ sat just a little over eight hundred meters in length, two hundred meters wide and one hundred meters tall. The CIC, where Commander Free currently stood, was considered unique for the Asterisk-Class. The nerve center of the vessel was considered abnormally large for a warship and was something of a Frankenstein creation. The _Pollux_ CIC contained several different aspects from different designs. For example, the doors used to enter the bridge were glass much like the newly built _Pegasus_ while the Command and Control station manned by the commanding officer and executive officer was more like an older ship's, such as the soon to be decommissioned_ Galactica_.

This was considered odd but not uncommon within the Fleet. The admiralty was attempting to cut costs anywhere they could and if installing an outdated DRADIS system on a vessel meant a few more cubits in their budget, so be it. The more Free thought about it the more he realized how outdated his CIC could be considered. Everything except for the Damage Control station and the Helm Control was outdated and primitive when compared to newer ships' systems. The Command and Control station, Communications, Tactical, Weapons Control and FTL stations were all considered to be part of an older technological age.

Factors such as that didn't make the ship any less reliable, however, no matter what Adar and his administration said otherwise. In fact the ship could be considered more reliable during a time of war. Especially if electronic warfare was going to be an issue to factor in. Not that Free felt there was going to be a war anytime soon. He felt those days were over and that the colonials had no one to fight any longer. Even if the Cylons still lingered somewhere past the Armistice line, the war was over. The machines had moved on nearly forty years ago and the colonials should do the same and forget their mistake.

Now the Fleet was a glorified police force, chasing pirates and freedom fighters. Free had joined to fly a viper but that didn't last very long. He soared through the ranks and by the time he was twenty nine got promoted to colonel. He served as the XO aboard the Battlestar Mercury for three years before he had gotten his commission. Free had had this gunstar under his command ever since. Nearly a year of flying through the same two sectors, waiting for anything to happen. Sometimes they caught the occasional wannabe pirate ship and sometimes they caught some illegal salvagers but that was it. No big fish, so to speak.

Not that the Commander minded. It was an easy job that came with a good crew of five hundred and thirty five smart, loyal crewmembers. There were a few rejects that the Fleet had gotten rid of by sending them as far away as possible but nevertheless they all fit in. His executive officer was one of those rejects. Demoted twice during his earlier years, both for insubordination, the fifty year old Colonel Artemus Grey was considered to be lucky to have even gotten to the rank and been offered a position. By now, though, most officers in Grey's position would be, at the very least, in a Rear Admiral position with his or her own battlestar. Grey was considered lucky to be an XO on a gunstar.

The man did his job though and he did it good. He drank, he had problems, he didn't like the position he was in with the Fleet but he kept everything off duty and had a professional pride about him when he was on duty. Free had to admit, he liked that. It was a good way to deal with a bad situation. Keep your pride and do your job.

Tearing Free from his thoughts was the telltale sound of DRADIS picking up a new contact(s). "What have we got, Lieutenant Teller?" The Commander questioned his tactical officer, Jake Teller.

"Two ships, sir. Both colonial." The young Tauron reported, jumping back and forth from station-to-station. "Two old Trekker-Class Patrol Craft. Not Fleet though. Simple ship-to-ship missiles. Uh..." Teller paused to read a quick report. "There's a notice out for two vessels similar to these. Robbed a civilian passenger liner a couple days ago." He reported.

Free nodded. He knew the class decently enough. When he was training in the academy they had a Trekker-Class for rookies to practice command skills on. "Alright, it'll take them five minutes to spin up their jump drives. Helm, move on intercept course, full speed. Lieutenant Teller, bring us to action stations." The Commander ordered, watching DRADIS closely.

"Action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship. This is not a drill." Teller spoke into the wired phone that was connected to the PA system. Suddenly, several more blips appeared on DRADIS. "Multiple contacts! The patrol ships launched fighters!" Teller reported while staring up at DRADIS. The klaxons of action stations were wailing throughout the entire ship.

Free furrowed his brows. _What the hell are these pirates doing trying to hold off a Fleet vessel?_ Free questioned mentally. It was suicide. "Launch our own squadron. Use of deadly force authorized if they fire first." Free stated.

Colonel Grey joined his side, awoken from his slumber by the call to action stations. "Sitrep, sir?" The older Caprican questioned in his raspy, gruff voice.

"Two Trekker-Class ships. They've launched fighters." Free explained to his executive officer who raised his brow.

Grey frowned. "What kind of fighters could they possibly have to compete with vipers?" He questioned aloud. "The best they could have is some frakkin' black market scrap metal that barely fly." The Colonel commented, running a hand over his bald head. The Caprican was short and stocky. He stood at 5'9 and had what could only be described as cannons for arms. He had a short rough beard that was slowly greying from his hair's original jet black coloration. Grey wasn't the toughest kid on the block but that didn't make him any less intimidating.

Commander Free, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of Grey in almost every way. The Aquaria born Free was tall, standing at 6'1 and was more thinner than stocky. He sported a goatee minus the mustache and still had his hair. He had shaggy yet short brown hair. Free wasn't exactly intimidating but that didn't mean he was someone easily frakked with. "Yeah. Doesn't make them any less of a threat. If they've got weapons and pilots who can fly, I'd consider that threatening enough, Colonel. Petty Officer Cameron, send hostile challenge to the two ships. Order them to stand down and prepare to be boarded." The Commander ordered his female communications officer who nodded and sent the message.

The vipers from his ship showed up on DRADIS, indicating they had been launched. The vipers knew their orders. They weren't to fire unless fired upon. Considering that the pirates weren't standing down, Free had a feeling that weapons free would soon be ordered by the ship's CAG.

"Sir, no response from hostile challenge. Captain Lexington reports three minutes until interception of the two ships." Cameron reported from the communications station.

_Not soon enough._ Free mentally added. "On my authorization order vipers to go weapons free, Petty Officer. Tell the Captain to try and disable their jump drives." Free ordered while crossing his arms across his chest.

_"Copy that, Pollux actual. All vipers, all vipers, weapons free on all targets. ETA to intercept, one minute."_ Captain Lexington's voice came over the CIC's speakers, which connected to the communication station.

Free listened as the twenty viper pilots he had out there responded to their orders. Suddenly, the ten or so pirate fighters turned around and made a hasty retreat back to their own ships. The Commander had no idea what these pirate bastards were doing. The fighters disappeared from DRADIS and, soon after, so did the two pirate controlled patrol ships. Free's eyes went wide in response. "What the frak just happened?" He questioned.

Teller stood, mouth slightly agape. "They spun up and left, sir. I... How the hell did they keep that away from our sensors?" He asked rhetorically while checking his station for problems.

Free ran a hand irritably through his hair. "Godsdammit." He muttered and sighed deeply.

"Sorry, Commander. Next time." Grey stated, patting Free on the back encouragingly.

"Sure, next time. Take the con. I've gotta write up an after action report. Bring our birds home." The Commander ordered before turning to leave the CIC for his quarters. Always nice to write to command about a frak up.

* * *

**_Zero Day_**  
**_Gunstar Pollux_**

_"Commander Free, how exactly did these supposed pirates get away from you and your ship when they jumped in right under your nose?"_ Rear Admiral Shepard, the admiral in charge of the fleet that the Pollux was technically apart of, questioned over the wireless.

Free hated these dull conversations. Everything was already in his after action report. He had no idea why he subjugated to these scoldings. "Like I said in my report, Admiral. Whether it be a glitch in our systems or something to do with their ships, we did not detect that their faster-than-light systems had been spooled. They recalled whatever fighters they had deployed and jumped out of the sector. Our vipers were mere seconds from intercepting the vessels and their planes. I'm sorry to say that even if we had detected their jump drives spooling up we wouldn't have been able to stop them in time, sir." Free reported, restating his after action report almost word-for-word.

There was a sigh and a short pause. _"Very well, Commander. We'll update the notice on these craft. As far as I'm concerned, they won't do much but harass civilian liners and other transports cruising on the fringe of colonial space. Continue your assignment. Remember, in two weeks you're due at Scorpion Shipyards for your overhaul. You've avoided it so far, but your ship is going to get the Command Navigational Program. Good luck out there, Free. Shepard out."_ The Commander was about to respond until he heard the audible click of being hung up on.

_"Oh how I love the admiralty."_ Free mentally added in a sing song voice before setting the phone down on the receiver. He yawned tiredly as he rubbed his eyes. He hadn't been getting much sleep lately due to some bad dreams he couldn't even remember. Free sighed before standing up from the desk he had set up in his spacious quarters. He took a quick look around his room. It was relatively empty, save for several pieces of furniture. He had his desk set up just opposite of the bulkhead entrance and a bookcase next to that. In the adjacent corner of the room was his near antique brown leather couch where he usually sat down to read. Free had a music player set up on a wooden end-table next to the couch. Of course there was the bathroom and then there was his bedroom which held his queen sized bed.

Free pushed his wooden deskchair in under his desk and walked out of his quarters, which had two marine guards standing outside. They were part of the marine detachment aboard the ship that consisted of fifty enlisted with only a handful of officers. The marines stood at attention while the Commander walked by, returning to their normal stances when Free was out of sight.

He walked towards the CIC, leisurely making his way towards the nerve system of his ship. Teller's voice came over the PA system. _"Commander Free, contact the CIC asap."_ He stated. Free furrowed his brows and walked over to the nearest mounted phone. He picked it up off the receiver. "Free here, go ahead." The words that would follow would forever change his life. For the worse.

_"Cylon attack underway on the colonies. This is not a drill."_


	2. Chapter 1

**_Survival Over All: Series One  
_**

**_Chapter 1;  
The Attack  
_**

**_Zero Day_**

* * *

Commander Free felt the contents of his stomach flip-flop at what Lieutenant Teller had just told him. "I'll be right up." He stated before shakily placing the phone back on its receive. _This couldn't be happening... Not now. Why now? _Free's mind raced as he ran to the CIC, shouting at multiple crewmen for them to make a hole while he passed. He stopped in front of the glass doors and waited for the Sergeant of the guard to open them for him. The Commander stormed onto the bustling bridge. Crewmembers were bouncing from station to station, compiling report after report, trying to figure out what was going on. "Lieutenant Teller! Sound general quarters! Condition two." He ordered, taking his place at the Command and Control console, next to where Colonel Grey was supposed to be._**  
**_

Problem was, the good Colonel wasn't there. Teller nodded and grabbed one of the many phones situated throughout the CIC. "General quarters, general quarters, set condition two throughout the ship. I repeat, set condition two throughout the ship." The Lieutenant ordered before placing the phone back onto its receiver and resuming bouncing from station to station.

"Sir, message just came in on the encrypted channel. It's a message from someone in the admiralty, Commander." _Gunstar Pollux's_ communication officer, Petty Officer Cameron, reported to Free.

Free walked over and took the message from the shaking Petty Officer, giving her a short reassuring pat on t he shoulder before he read the message to himself.

_Authorization code; D90E5ILK12.  
This a code black order, making it of the highest importance._  
_Gunstar Pollux, you are to make your way to the abandoned ship storage, Depot Hera in orbit of the gas giant Hera, and activate as many ships as possible, then, await further instructions. Gods help us. So say we all._

The Commander clutched the orders as tight as he could, his knuckles turning white in the process. Their colonies were under attack and they couldn't even fight the damn toasters. They were going to be playing in a shipyard, trying to bring vessels that had been lying dormant since before even the First Cylon War. Free sighed and threw the report aside. "Give me shipwide." He ordered, grabbing a phone from its receiver. Cameron gave a thumbs up and Free spoke. "This is the Commander. Just minutes ago this ship received word of a Cylon attack on the colonies. Following closely was an order from the admiralty. We are not to engage the Cylon forces. We are to make our way to the gas giant Hera and dock at the abandoned ship storage Depot Hera. We will begin activating ships to help in the war effort." Free paused and let the first words sink into the crew. Looks of concern came from every crewmember aboard the ship. "We don't know much but what we do know is that we have taken heavy losses. The Cylons have us beaten to the ground. We've lost countless ships." He paused again as Petty Officer Cameron handed him a new report with tears in her eyes. He took it and read it before continuing. "Nuclear detonations reported on the colonies of Caprica, Picon, Scorpia, Leonis and Canceron." Each colony read off was followed by a series of gasps from what Free guessed to be natives of those colonies. He silently thanked the Gods that his home hadn't been reported as nuked.

Free stared as several of his crewmembers broke down into tears. "I need you to be strong. All of you. Without you strong, we'll all be dead at the hands of the Cylons. Commander Free out." He hung up the phone and turned around, heading back to the center console. "Lieutenant Teller, plot an FTL course for the gas giant Hera." The Commander ordered, hands grasped firmly behind his back.

Colonel Grey charged in, half dress and eyes wide. He was missing his uniform's coat and only wore a tank-top and overshirt. "What's going on, sir?" He questioned desperately.

"You heard, Colonel. We have our orders and we have our destination. I need you one hundred percent. Are you one hundred percent?" Free questioned, narrowing his eyes. The Colonel look unkempt and smelt of Ambrosia but otherwise he looked sober enough.

Grey nodded. "One hundred percent, Commander. Hearing that your home and family's been nuked really sobers you up." He stated solemnly.

Free frowned and nodded slightly. He could only pray for the people down on the ground. He hoped the majority of the Fleet were handing the Cylons their asses on a silver platter right now. He could only hope though.

* * *

**_Zero Day + One Hour_**  
**_Helios Beta System_**  
**_Depot Hera_**

Commander Free let out a short puff of breath as he felt his ship exit faster-than-light. "Jump complete, sir. We're currently in geosynchronous orbit of Depot Hera." Teller reported, standing up straight after checking the FTL station.

"DRADIS is clear." Colonel Grey added simply.

"Long range reports two... make that three Cylon baseships in orbit over Leonis. Doesn't look like they've spotted us yet, sir." Teller reported before starting to bounce from station to station again. The tactical officer's job was one of the hardest jobs on a warship. On a battlestar it was even more hectic than what it was now. Too many things to coordinate at once.

Free nodded. "Alright. Helm, take us into the soup." He ordered. The soup being the gas that practically engulfed Depot Hera. The Commander had no idea what to expect and since DRADIS was so frakked up the helm was relying solely on cameras mounted on the outer hull.

DRADIS still scanned away even though it was heavily distorted and could barely read anything. "Sir." The main helm crewmen said, gaining Free's attention. "I think we're coming up on the depot but the way things are out there... too frakked up to see anything, Commander. Reducing speed." He stated, reducing the ship's speed. They were chugging along, the gunstar practically lurking within the gas giant's upper atmosphere.

The main helm began bringing the ship to a slow stop. Free turned towards the helm station. "Why did we stop?" He questioned with one brow raised in curiosity.

"Depot Hera, sir. Just a few hundred kilometers ahead of us. I can barely make it out from here." The helmsman reported.

Free crossed his arms across his chest. "You know the drill. Dock us with the station. Let's see what we can get out of this old bucket." The Commander muttered, staring up at the distorted DRADIS. Unexpectedly, DRADIS read two blips. At least Free could make out what looked like two blips. "Set condition one throughout the ship!" The Commander ordered in a shout, startling the other CIC crewmen who immediately scrambled to activity.

Lieutenant Teller grabbed the PA system. "General quarters, general quarters, set condition one throughout the ship!" He ordered.

"Scramble the alert vipers." Free ordered to Petty Officer Cameron who nodded briskly in response and began ordering for the launch of the gunstar's Mk VII fighter wing. The Commander was about to give the helm orders when a faint ship to ship communication came in over the speakers. Free paused before turning to Cameron again. "Can you clear that up?" He questioned.

Cameron nodded and went to work at her station. "Try responding, sir." She suggested, looking up from her monitor.

Free nodded and grabbed the phone on the center console. "This is the Gunstar Pollux to unidentified contacts. Respond immediately or we will fire upon you." He ordered sternly.

"Sir, I'm getting colonial transponders. Authenticating." Cameron reported before pausing. "Sir codes match up. Those ships are ours." She stated with a slight smile forming at the corners of her mouth.

_"Gunstar Pollux, this is Colonel Alexander of the Trident-Class Corvette Admirable alongside the civilian tylium supertanker Consus."_ Free remained silent._ "Gunstar Pollux?"_ Another bout of silence._ "Is anyone even frakkin out there?"_ That shook Free out of his minor comatose.

"This is Commander Joseph Free of the Pollux. It's great to here your voice, Colonel."

Free could here a sigh of relief come from the other end of the line. _"Great to be heard, sir. Permission to come aboard on a raptor?"_ The Colonel questioned.

The Commander was about to grant it when he realized his orders. "Dock with Depot Hera. We'll meet on the station itself. I'm guessing you got some orders from the admiralty too? Telling you to come here?" Free presumed openly.

A pause. _"Seems we got the same Godsdamn orders, sir. Hate to be here rather than taking the fight to the toasters but I'm not one to disobey an order during a time of war. You know what that could lead to. Not that it much matters at this point. From what I hear we're getting our collective asses handed to us on a silver platter."_ Alexander stated simply.

"Yeah. Putting the pleasantries aside, however, dock your ship with the depot. Instruct the supertanker to form up next to your ship. Anything else you need, Colonel?"

"Not that I know of sir."

"Good. Pollux actual out." Free placed the phone back down on its receiver and turned to the three men sitting at the helm. "Take us in. Nice and easy now. Dock and inform me when we do." He ordered before turning to Grey, who had been silent for at least five minutes. "Colonel, you have the bridge." He stated before heading out of the CIC. The Commander had something to look into in his quarters.


End file.
